Gossip in the Garden

by Kathi Daley

  “I’m not sure. I guess I haven’t given it the depth of thought you have.” I paused and looked away from his gaze before I continued. “I loved Johnathan with all my heart, but if I’m perfectly honest, I wasn’t looking to have a child when he was conceived. I think Ben and I were both shocked when the pregnancy test came back positive, and it took me the entire nine months of my pregnancy to wrap my head around the idea that I was going to be a mother. Of course, once he was born, I found myself wondering why I hadn’t taken the plunge sooner, but after he died—well, let’s just say that after he died, I realized that losing a child was an experience I never wanted to suffer again.”

  “The odds are that if you had another child, he or she would outlive you,” Colt pointed out.

  “I know. And as I just said, I really haven’t given the idea of another child a lot of thought. I guess it simply hasn’t come up. But I do know that at the moment, I feel content with my life.” I felt tears gathering behind my lids as the topic of the conversation tugged at my heartstrings. I grabbed my water glass and took several large gulps as I struggled to keep my emotions at bay. This was not the sort of discussion I was prepared to have at this point in my life.

  “I ran into Jeremy and Mylie at the hardware store,” Colt said, thankfully changing the subject.

  “Oh,” I smiled, trying desperately to regain control.

  “They were buying supplies for the booths they’re building for Lobsterfest. They really seemed committed to their project.”

  I laughed. “They’ve both taken very seriously the challenge of preparing in just ten days for an event that would normally take months to prepare for. Georgia and Amy are taking care of the food with Christy and Nikki’s help. At first, I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to pull it off, but all my little helper bees are on top of things, so I think it’s going to be fine.”

  “It was good seeing Mylie. She seemed happy. We didn’t talk long, but she seemed to have enjoyed her trip with Riley.”

  “She did. I think, however, unlike the two of us, marriage and children are very much on her mind. She shared that she had a wonderful time, but she’d done some soul searching, and realized that now was the time to refocus her energy and get back to her original plan of finding a man to build a life with.”

  The waiter came by with the food we’d ordered when the salads had been dropped off. The conversation lagged as we ate what turned out to be one of the best meals I’d ever had. I’d ordered the halibut, which was done to perfection and the rice that accompanied the fish was light and expertly seasoned.

  “Speaking of the hardware store,” I said after more than half my meal had been consumed in silence. “I spoke to Buck about Patrick. I guess the two men were friends. He said the last time he saw Patrick, he was in to buy spray paint.”

  He speared a piece of asparagus. “Spray paint. Why did Patrick need spray paint?”

  “Buck seemed to think he was planning to head up north to some caves he’d been researching, and he wanted to mark his way as he explored so he didn’t get lost.”

  “I guess that makes sense.”

  “It occurred to me that he might have been heading to the caves to look for the gold Ademar Delgado supposedly hid. If the legend is true and Ademar did offload the gold and then sink his ship, I think he would have hidden the treasure nearby. Close, but not too close, so people who knew about the gold wouldn’t look for it there.”

  Colt frowned. “So, do you think Patrick had the diary even though it wasn’t found with the other items in the duffle bag?”

  “Actually, I do. You told me that you spoke to a man named Owen, who volunteers at the museum during the busiest times, and that he told you that Ademar Delgado’s diary was never part of the museum’s inventory. When I spoke with Buck, he told me that Patrick had purchased a diary about a year ago from a private auction.”

  “So why would Nadine tell us that the Bidwell family had donated the diary and that it had been on display before Patrick began removing items from the building?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “What I do know is that, while Nadine included the diary on the list of missing items, it wasn’t found with the other items, and a man who was in a position to know whether or not the diary had ever been part of the museum inventory, told you it wasn’t. I’ve given it some thought, and I’ve pretty much decided that Nadine was lying about the diary and probably the bowl, although I’m less certain about that.”

  He raised a brow. “Why would she do that?”

  “I’m not sure, but Patrick bought the spray paint to explore a cave before taking the items he did from the museum. That means he’d already read the diary and figured out the clues. Or at least he’d figured out the clues to the extent that he had an idea where to look for the gold, if that was, in fact, what he was even doing, which, of course, we don’t and can’t know for certain.”

  “Or,” Colt countered, “Patrick went up to the caves for a reason having nothing to do with the diary or the gold even if he had been in possession of the diary.”

  “Well, yeah,” I admitted. “I suppose there is that possibility.” I took a sip of my wine. “I suppose you and I could take a trip up there and have a look. If, of course, we can figure out exactly which cave system Patrick bought the spray paint to explore.”

  Colt paused. “I actually have an idea which cave system Patrick might have been heading toward. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to look. If Patrick was there, we should find evidence of that. If he marked his passage, we can use the marks to retrace his steps.”

  “I’m game.”

  “It would be an all-day trip.”

  “I can make time whenever it works best for you,” I said.

  He leaned back in his chair. “Okay. Let’s go tomorrow. I’m not working, so it’s a good day to go.” He tilted his head just a bit. “If Patrick had the diary all along as you suspect, and it wasn’t amongst the items taken from the museum, why do you suppose Nadine added it to the list? She even went so far as to tell us the story of how the museum acquired it.”

  “I’ve given the situation some thought, and all I can come up with is that she wants the diary, and probably the bowl, for herself or for the museum, and she knew Patrick had them. Maybe she figured if she added them to the list and they turned up during our investigation, we’d return them to her, along with everything else we found.”

  “That seems like a pretty diabolical plan for this woman to have come up with on the fly.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe. And maybe Buck was wrong, and Patrick didn’t buy the diary at an auction. But if he stole it on the day he was shot, where is it?”

  “Maybe he took it to his home rather than leaving it with the other items in the secret room and whoever shot him, took it from him,” Colt suggested.

  I supposed that was a good explanation as well.

  After we finished our meal, we took a walk along the sandy shore. I loved living up on the bluff and being able to look out over the sea toward the horizon, but there was something special about walking along the waterline as the waves lapped at my bare feet that was sensual and intimate as well.

  “Thank you for this,” I said as Colt and I walked hand in hand under the starry sky. “I’ve missed you. I know it was important to have time with the kids, but I’ve missed us if that makes any sense at all.”

  He tightened his hand on mine. “It does, and I’ve missed us as well. I’ve been thinking about that date we’ve been trying to have since February.”

  “Have you?” I smiled, happy that like me, the date that never happened had been on his mind.

  “I will admit that there have been some very good reasons that both you and I have been otherwise occupied since the Valentine dinner that never happened, but I think I let the dating aspect of the whole thing get into my head and I found the interruption to be almost a welcome event.”

  I stopped walking and looked at him. I’d half been expecting this. “You want us to remai
n firmly in the friend zone.”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. It’s not that I wouldn’t love to kiss you. In fact, kissing you has been at the forefront of my mind since I picked you up this evening.”

  “Then what is it?”

  He took a deep breath and then blew it out slowly. “After you asked me to accompany you to Florida this past winter, I realized that if I went, things were bound to change for us, and being the neurotic sort that I am at times, I began to play different scenarios through in my mind. Most of the scenarios I considered ended with an eventual situation where the question of where we would go next would arise. I’ve given my life choices a lot of thought, and, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve come to the decision that children are probably not in my future. Since I hadn’t asked you about your feelings on the subject, I really couldn’t be sure how you’d feel about having or not having another child of your own.”

  “And you were afraid if we took our friendship to the next level, I’d eventually be looking for marriage, babies, and happily ever after.”

  He touched a hand to my cheek. “Basically. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to give you that, and I was afraid that if we allowed things to progress, we’d eventually end up destroying our friendship. I want you in my life. If our plans for our futures aren’t aligned, then I’d rather have you as a friend than not have you at all.”

  “This is a lot to consider.”

  He rubbed a thumb across my cheek with the hand that cupped my face. “There’s no pressure at all to figure this out at this moment. The subject of children is one I’ve been toying with for some time. In addition to the fact that I decided as a young man that I didn’t want to be an older father as mine had been, I have to consider the fact at some point, I’ll very likely take over the physical guardianship of my niece and nephew. I don’t see how I can enter into a romantic relationship with any woman, knowing that not only am I unwilling to give her babies of her own but that if we should marry, she would likely be saddled with raising teenagers that aren’t even hers.”

  I took a step back since our proximity was making it hard to think. “I understand. And I admire you for knowing what you want and being open and honest about it. My initial reaction is that not having children of my own with whomever I might one day marry would be fine, but I guess I need to take some time and really figure out where I stand. And I agree that since you seem firm in your own convictions, it is important that I do this soul searching before we decide whether or not to move our relationship forward.” I glanced out toward the calm summer sea, letting the warm air brush over my bare skin. “In the meantime, I assume we can continue our friendship as we have been?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I took his hand in mine and started walking once again. “So what sort of supplies should we bring for our trip tomorrow?”

  Chapter 10

  Colt had left me with a mind filled with questions after he’d dropped me off last night. I had to admit when we first arrived at what could only be described as a very romantic restaurant, my thoughts of where and how the night would end were vastly different than how the night had actually ended. When I’d first asked Colt to accompany me to Florida to stay in a condo on the beach with me, my only thought had been about the immediate future and my desire to explore an intimate relationship with the man I knew I could easily grow to love. What came after had never entered my mind, and the idea of whether we’d marry and have children together hadn’t even been a blip on my radar. Perhaps Colt was right to consider such things. The two of us had developed an epic friendship, and that friendship, I realized, was as important to me as it was to him. How would I feel about a future that included helping him raise his niece and nephew, knowing that the two of us would never have children together? My initial reaction was that a future that looked like the one he’d described would be fine with me, but would it really? I guess in the interest of our friendship, I needed to be really sure.

  “Good morning, everyone,” I said to the group who’d gathered for breakfast. I looked toward Annabelle. “How was Hannah’s party?”

  “So fun.” She grinned. “David and Barbara are going to take Hannah and me to Bar Harbor today. We’re going to have lunch, and Hannah is going to spend her birthday money.”

  “That sounds like a wonderful plan” I glanced toward the far end of the table where David and Barbara were sitting. “It’s a beautiful day to do some window shopping, and Bar Harbor is a perfect place to spend time near the water and explore. There are some wonderful restaurants as well.” I looked toward Austin, who was sitting between Amy and Mylie. “How goes the house hunt?”

  “I looked at the condos you told me about near the school, and they have a one-bedroom opening up at the end of the month. I think it will work out perfectly if I get the job.”

  “When are you supposed to hear?” I asked.

  “They said next week. I’m hoping I’ll hear something on Monday. If I am going to move to Holiday Bay, I have a lot to do before the school year starts. If I don’t get the job, then I need to know that as well so I can keep looking.”

  “Waiting is the hardest part,” I agreed. “Hopefully, the hiring committee knows that and won’t keep you and the other applicants hanging too long. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying your visit with us.”

  “Very much. It’s really beautiful here.”

  I noticed that Jason Rivers, the man who was in town to settle his aunt’s estate, was not at the table, nor was our mystery guest, Rena. I was curious as to whether Georgia had been able to get anything more out of her, but I decided to wait to ask when I could make my inquiry in private. “So, how about the rest of you?” I asked, glancing toward Amy, Mylie, and Jeremy. “What sort of plans do you have today?”

  “Jeremy and I are interviewing a band we hope will work out for next weekend,” Mylie said. “They’re just a local group, but Georgia heard them play in the past, and said they were pretty good.”

  “Where is Georgia?” I asked. When I’d first come in and sat down, I figured she was in the kitchen, but she had yet to make an appearance.

  “She took Rena into town,” Jeremy said. “I guess Rena remembered something about a house on Vine Street, so Georgia decided to take her to the house she remembered in the hope there was someone at the residence who might know who she was.”

  “I was wondering if she remembered anything,” I said.

  “Georgia spent a lot of time yesterday trying to help her remember,” Amy informed me. “She asked her questions and showed her photos of the town and the area surrounding the town. Rena seemed to be a blank slate, but then she woke up this morning, talking about a house on Vine Street, so Georgia decided to take her into town before she lost the memory.”

  “Amy made our breakfast,” Jeremy said.

  “Wow. It’s wonderful. Thank you so much,” I said.

  She grinned. “It was fun. Jeremy was going to do it when Georgia decided to take Rena into town, but I really wanted to try out some of the ideas I’d gotten from Georgia. The more time I spend here, the more determined I am to apply for cooking school.”

  “I think you have a promising career as a chef ahead of you if breakfast is any indication,” Barbara said.

  “I agree wholeheartedly,” Mylie seconded.

  Mylie launched into a story about a bed and breakfast she’d stayed at with Riley, so I refilled my coffee and headed into the kitchen to call Colt and confirm that he was still coming by to pick me up around ten. He confirmed that he was loading his truck with the items we’d need and would be over shortly. I was happy to hear that there didn’t seem to be any weirdness in his voice. After our discussion last night, I wasn’t sure what to expect today, but he sounded happy and relaxed, and even excited about the adventure we’d planned for the day. I realized I should tell someone where I was going and what my plans were, so I headed back to the dining room to pull Jeremy to the side. I wasn’t sure Georgia would be back before I left, so I guessed I
’d have to wait to see how the situation with Rena worked out until I returned to the inn at the end of the day.

  After Colt picked me up, we headed north along the highway for about twenty minutes before he turned onto a dirt road, which seemed to take us back in a southern direction.

  “Why did we come so far north only to head back the way we came?” I asked.

  “This dirt road can only be accessed from one point along the highway. I’m really not certain that this cave system is the one Patrick planned to access, but it is a little known system and relatively close to the coast once you circle back around. I figure if Patrick was looking for gold, he’d be looking for caves close to the sea. If Ademar did offload the gold with a plan to hide it in a cave, he would have had to transport it using horses. Gold is heavy. He wouldn’t have traveled far.”

  Colt made a good point. If any of this turned out to be true, the location where the gold was hidden wouldn’t be all that far from the spot where the ship had anchored.

  The road wasn’t one that was maintained, so while the scenery was gorgeous, the journey was bumpy, requiring Colt to travel at a speed that, based on my calculations, would take us three times as long to reach our destination as the journey north had. I figured it was a good time to chat, but I wanted to avoid any topic that would lead us down the conversation path we’d taken the previous evening, so I brought up Rena and the fact that we still hadn’t figured out where she’d come from or where she belonged.